Certain erroneous postulates should be here considered
in order that the spiritual facts may be better
91:24 apprehended.
The first erroneous postulate of belief is, that substance,
life, and intelligence are something apart from God.
91:27 The second erroneous postulate is, that man is both
mental and material.
The third erroneous postulate is, that mind is both evil
91:30 and good; whereas the real Mind cannot be evil nor the
medium of evil, for Mind is God.
The fourth erroneous postulate is, that matter is in-
92:1 telligent, and that man has a material body which is part
of himself.
92:3 The fifth erroneous postulate is, that matter holds in
itself the issues of life and death, - that matter is not
only capable of experiencing pleasure and pain, but also
92:6 capable of imparting these sensations. From the illusion
implied in this last postulate arises the decomposition of
mortal bodies in what is termed death.
92:9 Mind is not an entity within the cranium with the power
of sinning now and forever.
Knowledge of good and evil
In old Scriptural pictures we see a serpent coiled around
92:12 the tree of knowledge and speaking to Adam and Eve.
This represents the serpent in the act of
commending to our first parents the knowl-
92:15 edge of good and evil, a knowledge gained from matter,
or evil, instead of from Spirit. The portrayal is still
graphically accurate, for the common conception of mor-
92:18 tal man - a burlesque of God's man - is an outgrowth
of human knowledge or sensuality, a mere offshoot of
material sense.
Opposing power
92:21 Uncover error, and it turns the lie upon you. Until
the fact concerning error - namely, its nothingness -
appears, the moral demand will not be met,
92:24 and the ability to make nothing of error will
be wanting. We should blush to call that real which is
only a mistake. The foundation of evil is laid on a belief
92:27 in something besides God. This belief tends to support
two opposite powers, instead of urging the claims of Truth
alone. The mistake of thinking that error can be real,
92:30 when it is merely the absence of truth, leads to belief in
the superiority of error.
The age's privilege